Daily Archives: Nov 5, 2017

On September 20th, Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico as a category 5 hurricane causing significant damage to much of the island’s basic infrastructure and severely limiting access to electricity, water, and basic necessities. To better understand the public’s awareness of the damage to Puerto Rico and their assessment of the federal government’s response.

the Kaiser Family Foundation polled the public on these issues and found a large majority are aware of the severity of the hurricane’s impact on Puerto Rico and most (62 percent) say the people there are not yet getting the help they need.

In terms of the federal government’s response, about half feel the federal government is not doing enough to restore electricity and access to food and water (52 percent) and that the response has been too slow (52 percent).

The largest share place the blame for problems restoring basic services on a slow response by the federal government (44 percent), followed by 32 percent who place blame on disorganization at the local level and 10 percent who blame lack of coverage by the news media.

Given that Hurricane Maria was the third hurricane to hit U.S. ground in one month, the survey also assessed the public’s views of how the response to Maria in Puerto Rico compared to the government’s response to earlier hurricanes and found that 44 percent of the public feel that President Trump and his administration have done less to respond to the damage in Puerto Rico than they did to respond to hurricane damage in parts of Florida and Texas.

Nearly half (46 percent) say that the federal government’s response would be moving faster if Puerto Rico had been a wealthier place with fewer Hispanic people, while a similar share (44 percent) say ethnicity and poverty have not affected the recovery effort.

Views of the response vary significantly across Democrats, Republicans and independents.

Some disagree with our process. They wonder why we decide to endorse. How dare we tell them how they should vote? Some look forward to the endorsement to see if they agree with us and to read our reasons for the endorsement.

Most just want to know what lead us to the decision, who was involved in making it and how thorough was the process?

Panorama Hispano News editorial board takes every endorsement very seriously. We commit a great deal of time to the process, we discuss the merits of each and every candidate and believe it is among the most important things we do each election.

We believe strongly that Panorama Hispano’s opinion helps and lead the community. We believe we help start discussions, spur people to take action and help move the community forward, whether you agree or disagree.

We don’t expect nor do we want every person to agree with our endorsements. The endorsements are made to create community discussions, to get people talking, to get heated debates started and to help voters make decisions based on the issues and not the commercials. An election should be much more than a popularity contest.

Why we endorse Mayor Brown

Since he was sworn in as Mayor in 2006, his administration has stabilized and grown the economy with a conservative fiscal plan focused on job creation, smart growth and responsible development. He lifted the wage freeze, reduced unemployment and hired the most diverse workforce in the City’s history. He reduced property tax rates for residents and businesses, while providing hundreds of millions of dollars for affordable housing, community centers and cultural institutions, parks, streets, sidewalks and improvements in every neighborhood, including the demolition of more than 6,400 blighted properties.

Today, more than $6.1 billion in new economic activity is creating 12,000 new jobs and transforming our economy. There has been a 33% drop in crime, and more than 15,000 illegal guns have been taken off our streets.

The City’s investment in education has increased by more than $61 million, contributing to higher graduation rates and increased college enrollment.

We believe the city’s strength can be measured by the progress made by Mayor Brown. There is greater equality of access to economic prosperity through programs to help minority, women-owned business enterprises grow and compete effectively. The Mayor’s Office of New Americans ensures that immigrants and refugees get the support they need, and my Opportunity Agenda has been embraced by residents, businesses, clergy, corporations and organizations representing more than 165,000 people who live, work or attend school in the City of Buffalo.

Panorama Hispano is the regional news and information newspaper for Hispanic and other diverse communities.

US Hispanics are now the largest ethnic minority in the United States numbering 54.2 million as of July 2014. Serving: Buffalo, Rochester, Fredonia, Niagara Falls, NY and Erie, PA. Outside our Market area: Visit our affiliate at: http://www.impremedia.com/